The UN childrenâ€™s agency, Unicef, and human rights watchdog Amnesty International are among the organisations promoting homosexuality in Uganda, the Government said yesterday.

Ethics and integrity minister Dr. James Nsaba Buturo, in a hard-hitting statement to Parliament, also implicated Human Rights Watch, Frontline Human Rights Defenders and East Horn of Africa Human Rights in the â€œracketâ€.

The organisations, Buturo said, were working with local groups which depend on them for funding, to spread homosexuality in the local population.

â€œThose behind this abnormal, unhealthy, unnatural as well as illegal lifestyle have argued that legalising homosexuality would be a human right and in defence of freedom,â€ he said.

â€œTen years ago, Unicef helped in funding and distributing books to schools, which books were unknown to the Ministry of Education and were popularising homosexuality,â€ he added.

The minister warned that many schools had been infiltrated. â€œPromoters of the practice work discreetly and they include people in positions of responsibility,â€ he argued.

Buturo said he had written to the education minister to protest Unicefâ€™s action and called for a tough response to curb the intrusion.

After Buturoâ€™s statement, several MPs condemned homosexuality and called for stern action. They also criticised the Government for not blocking the press conference convened by self-confessed homosexuals in Kampala recently.

Most Ugandans, Buturo argued, strive to be guided by Godâ€™s standards.

â€œThose standards do not include promotion of anal sex at the expense of heterosexual sex as a means to maintain human reproduction,â€ he said. â€œIf the Government were to legalise marriages between men and men and women and women, we would be talking about a threat to human civilisation.â€

He said the Government was unequivocally against homosexuality, which is why it does not give homosexuals rights conferred to married persons.

The offence carries a life sentence on conviction. Uganda is among about 70 countries that have outlawed homosexuality.

Both promoters and apologists of homosexuality, the minister said, are using all tricks to have it legalised in Uganda. â€œThe latest is their attempt to use the United Nations to pass a resolution they hope would be binding on all countries.â€

â€œIt is important that we do not compromise on the values that we stand for,â€ he said as the MPs cheered

He said the Government would enact a more comprehensive law that will treat as illegal the promotion of homosexuality and membership to homosexual groups.

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